Recording media having separate read only and read/write areas

ABSTRACT

A hybrid optical recording medium is arranged to allow original information that is pre-recorded in a mass manufacturing process to be supplemented by additional information written to the disk after the original information has been recorded using a disk drive. The medium contains a first optical area for storing information which is pre-recorded according to a highly structured standard format and a second optical area in which supplemental information can be written, read back therefrom, erased and changed by a computer connected to the disk drive.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates generally to optical recording media such as forexample, digital video disks (DVDs), compact disks (CDs) and compactdisk read only memories (CD-ROMs). More particularly, the presentinvention relates to optical recording media having both a mainlyread-only part containing information recorded in a manufacturingprocess and a read/write part in which information can be written,erased, changed and read subsequent to the manufacturing process.

2. Description of the Related Art

Current read-only optical technology enables large amounts ofinformation to be permanently stored on a relatively small opticalmedium. However, it has a problem that the original information cannotbe changed and additional information cannot easily be written to thedisk after original information has been recorded in a manufacturingprocess. Furthermore, the original information is usually pre-recordedin a standard format which cannot be changed. Read/write opticaltechnology is developing but is not widely in use.

A conventional read-only CD typically contains a plurality of differentsongs recorded at once on a large number of CDs in a mass manufacturingprocess. Programmable CD players are available which can be programmedby a user to read and play only selected ones of the songs on a CD andto play the selected songs in a certain order according to a user'spersonal tastes. The program is stored in a memory within a CD player.However, if the CD is played in another CD player, then the user has toprogram that other CD player as well. And if a CD player cannotdistinguish between different CDs and the user wishes to have acustomized program for each one of the different CDs, they then have toreprogram the CD player each time a different CD is put into the player.

Some CD players may be configured so that they can detect anddistinguish between CDs on the basis of information, such as serialnumber or code number, recorded on the CDs during the manufacturingprocess, store customized programs keyed to respective corresponding oneof the CDs, and execute the customized program corresponding to anidentified CD. Even so, because the customized program is stored in amemory of the CD player, if the CD player becomes inoperable, losespower or suffers a power surge, or if the memory fails for any reason,then the program is irretrievably lost and the user again has toreprogram the CD player. Such reprogramming is especially time consumingif the CD player is a jukebox type CD player containing, for example, anumber of different programs for a large number of different CDs.

Of course, machines such as DVD players or personal computers may alsobe configured to accept a number of different types of customizationskeyed to corresponding CDs besides playback programs. For example, themachines may be customized to display the title, artist or otherinformation related to a song to be played or other information to beread from the recording medium. Since conventional read-only opticaldisks contain information recorded in accordance with a highlystructured standard format, it is not possible to add such supplementaryinformation to the disk. Therefore, even through optical recorders areavailable which can write onto optical recording mediums, they cannot beused to record additional information onto media already havingpre-recorded information recorded according to a highly structuredstandard format in a manufacturing process.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a hybrid optical recording medium whichallows original information that is pre-recorded in a manufacturingprocess to be supplemented by additional information written to the diskafter the original information has been recorded. A key feature of themedium is that it contains a first area for storing information which ispre-recorded according to a highly structured standard format and arecord area in which information can thereafter be written, read backtherefrom, erased and changed by a user.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, an opticaldisk is used which is similar to a conventional DVD, CD or CD-ROM diskand contains information recorded according to a standard read-onlyformat except that a read/write area is also provided somewhere on thedisk. A disk drive apparatus is configured to read the informationrecorded according to the standard read-only format and to read, write,erase and change information in the read/write area. The disk driveapparatus is preferably an integral part of an information processingsystem. A controller of the disk drive apparatus interacts with aprocessor of the information processing system. The read/write area isutilized according to instructions from the processor.

The advantages and novel features of the present invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure, including thefollowing detail description, as well as by practice of the invention.While the invention is described below with reference to preferredembodiments, it should be understood that the invention is not limitedthereto. Those of ordinary skill in the art having access to theteachings herein will recognize additional applications, modificationsand embodiments in the same or other fields, which are within the scopeof the invention as disclosed and claimed herein and with respect towhich the invention could be of significant utility.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is an illustrative dimensional view of one embodiment of ahybrid optical disk recording medium in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view of said one embodiment of a hybridoptical disk recording medium in accordance with the present inventiontaken along line I′—I′ of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2 is an illustrative of the relative position of the elements of afirst embodiment of the disk drive apparatus in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of the relative position of the elements of asecond embodiment of the disk drive apparatus in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an information processingsystem in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method carried out by the informationprocessing system shown in FIG. 4.

NOTATION AND NOMENCLATURES

The detailed descriptions which follow may be presented in terms ofprogram procedures executed on a computer or network of computers. Theseprocedural descriptions and representations are the means used by thoseskilled in the art to most effectively convey the substance of theirwork to others skilled in the art.

A procedure is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistentsequence of steps leading to a desired result. These steps are thoserequiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, thoughnot necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical ormagnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined,compared, and otherwise manipulated. It proves convenient at times,principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals asbits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or thelike. It should be noted, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities.

Further, the manipulations performed are often referred to in terms,such as adding or comparing, which are commonly associated with mentaloperations performed by a human operator. No such capability of a humanoperator is necessary, or desirable in most cases, in any of theoperations described herein which form part of the present invention;the operations are machine operations. Useful machines for performingthe operation of the present invention include general purpose digitalcomputers or similar devices.

The present invention also relates to apparatus for performing theseoperations. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the requiredpurpose, such as CD player or DVD player, or it may comprise a generalpurpose computer as selectively activated or reconfigured by a computerprogram stored in the computer. The procedures presented herein are notinherently related to a particular computer or other apparatus. Variousgeneral purpose machines may be used with programs written in accordancewith the teachings herein, or it may prove more convenient to constructmore specialized apparatus to perform the required method steps. Therequired structure for a variety of these machines will appear from thedescription given.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

One embodiment of the hybrid optical disk recording medium in accordancewith the invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1A and1B. As shown in FIG. 1A, the disk 100 has an optical read-only part 101made up of a plurality of circular tracks 101 ₁ to 101 _(N), each one ofwhich is divided into a number of sectors by radial lines extending fromthe center O of the disk. Each one of the tracks can have the samenumber of sectors, in which case the size of the sectors is larger fortracks near the circumference of the disk, or the number of sectors canvary with the size of the sectors remaining constant. Information ispre-recorded in read-only part 101 in accordance with a standardread-only format.

A separate recording area 103 is positioned beyond the outermost trackof the read-only part 101 and comprises a magnetic read/write part 102of the disk. Preferably, the read/write part 102 is composed of only asingle track, however it may be composed of as many tracks as desired.Separate recording area 103 may be divided into the same number ofsectors as tracks 101 ₁ to 101 _(N) or a larger number. While the sizeof the read/write part 102 will necessarily depend upon its use, it isanticipated that a relatively small amount of information would need tobe written in read/write part 102 and that therefore its size will besmall relative to the size of read-only part 101. Magnetic read/writepart 102 is also preferably simpler and lower in density and cost thanoptical read-only part 101. Information can be written in accordancewith a standard or nonstandard format.

FIG. 1B shows a cross section of disk 100 along line I′—I′. The disk iscomposed of a substrate 105, an optical layer 106 containing tracks 101₁ to 101 _(N), and a translucent finishing layer 107. The finishinglayer 107 is coated on at least layer 106 of read-only part 101 in orderto protect it. The circular track(s) of read/write part 102 may bedeposited directly on substrate 105, on layer 107 or on some other layersuitable as a base for magnetic recording. While read/write part 102 iscomposed of a circular track(s) on a rotating disk in the preferredembodiment of the invention, one or more linear track(s) may be usedinstead.

FIG. 2 shows the relative position of the elements of a first embodimentof the disk drive apparatus 200 in accordance with the present inventionfor optical disk 100 shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. A conventional highdensity optical read head 201 is used containing, for example, asemiconductor laser to provide incident light for reading and a detectorto detect the information recorded in read only part 101 and generate acorresponding read signal as an output. Optical read head 201 iscontrollably movable in a straight radial line from position 201 ₁ atwhich it reads the information recorded in track 101 ₁ to position 201_(N) at which it reads the information recorded in track 101 _(N). Readhead 201 is also of course controllable by controller 203 so as to bepositionable at positions corresponding respectively to each one of saidtracks 101 ₁ to 101 _(N).

A conventional magnetic read/write head 202 is provided to read, write,erase and change information at the track(s) of read/write part 102.Preferably, read/write part 102 is composed of a single circular track,in which case read/write head 202 is a very simple fixed-positionread/write head and is not movable in the radial direction. Even ifread/write part 102 is composed of several tracks, the control circuitryand/or mechanism for read/write head 202 is different than that for readhead 201. For example, magnetic read/write head 202 is controllablylowered to a position immediately adjacent the disk when reading,writing, erasing or changing information in the track(s) of read/writepart 102 and lifted out away from the disk the rest of the time, therebysaving wear and tear on the disk and the head.

The embodiment of disk 100 and disk drive device 200 shown in FIGS. 1A,1B and 2 is but one of several different possible embodiments of theinvention. For example, magnetic read/write part 102 may be located atany area of disk 100, such as the central portion, which is not used torecord information in the read-only part according to a standard format.Furthermore, although read/write head 202 is preferably stationary inthe radial direction, it may be movable away from the disk 100 insituations where a track of read-only part 101 is so close to a track ofread/write part to possibly cause collision of the heads otherwise andthereby permit full access of read head 201 to all of the tracks 101 ₁to 101 _(N).

In addition, the read/write part 102 may be an optical part in whichinformation is written, read, erased and changed optically. In such anembodiment, it is preferable that the same high density optical head beused for both read-only part 101 and read/write part 102 recordinginformation optically. In such a case, the optical head uses a lasersystem emits two different beams—one being used just for reading and theother being used just for writing.

As a further alternative, read/write part 102 may be on an area on theopposite side of disk 100 from the side of disk 100 containing the areafor read-only part 101. In such an embodiment, read head 201 is locatedadjacent an opposite side of disk 100 than read/write head 202. Bothread head 201 and read/write head 202 are thus movable in the radialdirection as shown in FIG. 3 in order to be controllably positioned bycontroller 203 at each one of the tracks of read-only part 101 andread/write part 102. This embodiment is especially useful inapplications in which it is desired to provide a large read/write part.For example, the read/write part could be used to store updates to areference CD-ROM. Original information could be pre-recorded onread-only part 101 and then periodically updated with the supplementalinformation stored in read/write part 102. Such information could bedownloaded to the CD-ROM through an information processing system suchas a computer shown in FIG. 4.

As shown in FIG. 4, the computer has a central processing unit (CPU) 400operatively connected to memory devices 410A and 410B, namely read-onlymemory (ROM) 410 a and random access memory (RAM) 410 b. ROM memory 410a typically stores BIOS and operating system like information.Programming which instructs the CPU 400 to operate in accordance withthe present invention as will be described in detail below may be storedin ROM or RAM. Data and information received or generated by the CPU 400can be preferably stored in RAM 410 b. Memory devices such as hard drive472 or floppy disk drive 473, SRAM, DRAM, etc., could be utilized inaddition to the hybrid disk drive 200 for a hybrid optical diskrecording medium, as is well understood by those of skill in the art.The CPU 400 is also operatively connected to input device 420 whichcould be a key pad, key board, dial or virtually any other device whichwould facilitate the input of data, of the type described below, to theCPU 400 by a user.

The information processing system may alternatively constitute a CDplayer, DVD player, or computer which is different than the computershown in FIG. 4, although the system must have bidirectional datatransfer capabilities through a disk controller 470 or similar element.It is also to be understood that the elements of the system must beprogrammed to perform a variety of different operations. In particular,CPU 400 can be programmed to implement different methods of usingread/write part 102 in conjunction with the reading of informationpre-recorded in read-only part 101.

For example, CPU 400 can be programmed to perform the method shown inFIG. 5 of assigning serial or code numbers to different disks and usingthe serial numbers to identify a disk and implement a customized routinein conjunction with the reading of information pre-recorded in theread-only part 101 of the disk. In step S501, whenever a disk isreceived in the disk drive 200, it is read to determine if it is ahybrid disk and, if so, whether a read/write part 102 thereof containsan serial number identifying the disk. If the disk is a hybrid diskhaving no serial number in read/write part 102, then it is assigned aserial number by CPU 400 (step S502) and the serial number is writteninto read/write part 102 of the disk (step S503).

Thereafter, the information processing system enters a program mode(step S504) where it accepts and retains inputs from a user or otherinformation indicating a preferred customization for the reading ofinformation pre-recorded in the read-only part 101 of the disk. Theseinputs could indicate, for example, a preferred playback program for aseries of song recorded in read-only part 101 of a hybrid CD or thepreferred settings of equipment used in a home theater surround soundsystem to reproduce video and audio of a movie recorded in the read-onlypart of a hybrid DVD. Alternatively, the system could constantly monitorthe reading of information from the read-only part 101 of the hybriddisk and maintain the last position of a user in the information (theinformation can be a video, song, game position, etc., as well as text).The program code continues and the inputs or monitored information iskept in RAM 410B until it is detected in step S505 that the disk sessionis completed (user discontinues uses or turns power off, etc.). When thesession is complete, CPU 400 then causes the inputs or monitoredinformation to be transferred from RAM 410B to read/write part 102 ofdisk 100 (step S506) and the serial number of the disk and correspondingcontrol information to be kept in RAM 410B of the information processingsystem (step S507). In the examples given, the user's preferred playbackprogram, electronic bookmark, game status, etc. are stored in read/writepart 102.

When the disk is subsequently inserted into the disk drive 200, it willagain be scanned and this time the serial number will be detected andread from read/write part 102. The serial number will be matched withthe record thereof and the corresponding control information kept in RAM410B (step S508). The control information is used as an index toidentify the category of the disk and the format of the inputs orinformation stored in the read/write part thereof. For example, thecontrol information can indicate that the disk is a CD and the inputsstored in the read/write part thereof indicate a playback program orthat the disk is a CD-ROM game and the information stored in theread/write part thereof is indicative of the ending game position. Theinformation processing system then carries out the program or otherwiseperforms steps in accordance with the control information correspondingto the serial number and the information in the read/write part of thehybrid disk.

Another example of a program performed by the CPU 400 in the informationprocessing system using read/write part 102 in conjunction with thereading of information pre-recorded in read-only part 101 are thestorage of keys for unlocking purchase songs from a collection of songs,videos, etc. from a large capacity hybrid disk. Another method could beuse the read/write part 102 as keys for unlocking fonts or applications.The read/write part 102 could also be used to record the process orspeed of a user, such as a student, reading the pre-recorded informationin the read-only part 101 of the hybrid disks. Of course, there may benumerous methods which may be implemented by an information processingsystem by using the read/write part of the hybrid disk according to thisinvention.

In this disclosure, there is shown and described only the preferredembodiment of the invention, but, as aforementioned, it is to beunderstood that the invention is capable of use in various othercombinations and environments and is capable of changes or modificationswithin the scope of the inventive concept as expressed herein.

What is claimed:
 1. A hybrid optical disk recording medium, comprising:a first sealed area having information recorded on a first recordingmedium in accordance with a standard format, said first area beingfinished and sealed in a manufacturing process, wherein the standardformat is selected from a standard CD format, a standard DVD format, anda standard CD-ROM format; and a second area, not within said firstsealed area, having a second recording medium separate from said firstrecording medium prepared to have information written thereto, read orerased therefrom and/or changed by a disk drive device.
 2. A hybridoptical disk recording medium according to claim 1, wherein said firstarea is on a first side of said hybrid optical disk recording medium andsaid second area is on a second side of said hybrid optical diskrecording medium.
 3. A hybrid optical disk recording medium according toclaim 1, wherein said first area comprises a plurality ofcircumferential tracks and said second area comprises a singlecircumferential track.
 4. A hybrid optical disk recording mediumaccording to claim 3, wherein said single circumferential track islocated near the outside edge of said hybrid optical disk recordingmedium.
 5. A hybrid optical disk recording medium according to claim 1,wherein said second area comprises magnetic material deposited on thesurface of a standard format optical disk.